I have worked in the service industry downtown for a few years. In those few years, I have witnessed I have met so many different people. This ranges from shady bottom feeders to professional athletes to movie stars, and many in between. Many people tell me that they think it would be amazing to meet some of these big names, and that it would be absolutely miserable to deal with those who are "below us." What I want to bring to people's attention is that not all homeless people are bad people, and they certainly should not be viewed as "below us."

There is a guy named Dwayne who constantly roams around East 4th street (where I work). He is always begging for money but is never aggressive about it. There are some days where he appears sane and is actually rather polite. There are other days where he appears to be completely losing his mind. Nevertheless, what he did the other day gave me a whole new perspective. I saw Dwayne walking in the middle of the street with a snow shovel in his hand. I thought to myself "It is 70 degrees out and he has a snow shovel in his hand. He is probably up to no good."

When he came over to where I was working, I noticed that he no longer had the shovel in his hand. This is when I asked him what he was up to. His response floored me. He said "I needed to make sure the streets were clean. One of the police horses made a mess on the street and I went to clean it up. I had to return the shovel so they did not think I was trying to steal it."

I began to think differently of him from that point forward. This holds true still. When you go downtown, or anywhere that you see people who have much less than you do, do not be so quick to judge them. I am not saying that you have to empty out your wallet to help them, but hear them out. I watched a Ted Talk that discusses the danger of seeing someone as having only a single story about them. What this means, in this case, is that we look at the homeless as crooks, as thieves, and as people who are only out to hinder your chances of having a good night out.

What we do not realize is that many of these people have multiple stories about themselves. Some of them include having mental illnesses and a lack of income to help treat these illnesses. Some of them include hardship in which they were cheated out of living a normal life. In some cases, these are good people who have more problems than us. They truly are less fortunate in comparison to us. There is good in all of us.